Dominica is on its way to recovering its agricultural sector after Hurricane Maria devastated the island on Sept. 19 with Category 5 forces.

Several international organisations — the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, OECS — along with the Dominica Ministry of Agriculture are working together to revitalise the island nation’s ability to grow its own food again.

Project organisers are setting up four greenhouse stations throughout the island to plant 200,000 seedlings that include lettuce, cucumber, kale, pepper, eggplant and pumpkin, among other fast-growing vegetables. Most plants will then be distributed to farmers. The growing station in Portsmouth will provide food for a hospital and a retirement home.

The team expects most of the vegetables to be harvested in four weeks. They hope to make the food production system “self-sufficient” by late December, feeding the island’s current population of 60,000.